Happy 165th birthday, Chicago Tribune: June 10, 1847

June 08, 2012|By John McCormick

In 1847, Chicago was a western gateway town of 16,000 citizens. A fledgling newspaper, the Tribune, first hit the dusty streets on June 10, a precise 165 years ago this Sunday. Today that Tribune publishes on multiple print, broadcast and electronic platforms, delivering news, commentary and entertainment much as it has for close to 60,000 mornings. We would say 60,000 consecutive mornings, were it not for that matter of the Great Chicago Fire in October of 1871.

We’re here today only because you, and generations of readers much like you, have invited us into your lives. It’s humbling to appreciate how our audience has expanded from metropolitan to regional to global.

Like each of you who joins this conversation, each of us Tribune employees who inherit this legacy arrives by some unique route. As a boy I fetched my grandfather’s freshly delivered Tribune from the Illinois Central depot in distant Manchester, Iowa; by age 13 I was peddling Tribunes at a pharmacy.

Will we have a relaxing 165th birthday? Probably not. The news never stops, nor does our urgency to convey it. Whatever the delivery platforms, we’re looking to the next 60,000 mornings. And the 60,000 mornings after that.

Today, though, we thank you for these years. And we thank you for your trust.